Freshman English
Honors Level
Summer Reading Project 2014
“Reading is to the mind what exercise is to the body.”
Sir Richard Steele
Welcome, English Students Class 2018!
Because a goal of the English Department is to foster the love and frequency of reading among our students, we require
that all our students, across the grade levels, do some independent reading during the summer break. This year’s summer
reading requirement for incoming English 9 Honors students will be Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird . You will
receive a copy of this book along with the required assignment from us by the time you leave for your summer vacation.
In addition, the Honors students will read ONE ADDITIONAL BOOK from the attached list (see reverse).

Upon your arrival to Alvirne, you will be held directly responsible for the book(s) you’ve read. You will need to
turn in the Journal Entries for To Kill a Mockingbird on your first day (see worksheet). In addition, the Honors
students should be prepared for additional activities and assessments designed to measure your understanding and
appreciation of the additional book you read from the list provided. Come to school in September prepared to
write and speak about these books.

IMPORTANT: With any selection you make, please confer closely with your parents in the event that the
selection is not one they wish you to read. (Some of the more recent works may have language and situations that
are objectionable to some families.) Please make this a family activity and choose wisely.
Sincerely,
The Freshman English Team
Attachment: Worksheet “Journal Entries for To Kill a Mockingbird”
BOOK LIST FOR HONORS STUDENTS
Choose AT LEAST one book from the following lists.
You are only required to read one additional book, but feel free to read as many as you like.
Please Note: These are class texts and should
not be chosen for summer reading.
To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
Lord of the Flies by William Golding
The Odyssey by Homer
Great Expectations by Charles Dickens
A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens
Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte
Select from these choices:
Fiction
The Joy Luck Club OR The Kitchen God’s Wife by Amy Tan
Cat’s Cradle by Kurt Vonnegut
1000 Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini
The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd
I Robot by Isaac Asimov
Catch 22 by Joseph Heller
The Good Earth by Pearl S. Buck
A Tree Grows in Brooklyn by Betty Smith
OR
Nonfiction
The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath
Into Thin Air OR Into the Wild by John Krakauer
A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier by Ishmael Beah
Name: _____________________________________
Journal Entries for To Kill a Mockingbird
While you are reading To Kill a Mockingbird, you need to create journal entries for 10 chapters spread
throughout the book.
Instructions for creating journal entries-
Chapter Entries (Information and Interpretation)
1. Title: Create a title. The title should reflect something pertinent about the chapter - don’t select an obvious
and simple title like “Boo.”
2. Summary: Summarize the chapter in a complete sentence. Be concise and comprehensive. Devise a
sentence that conveys the relevant aspects from the chapter.
3. Inferences: Create two inferences for the chapter. Your inferences can be about a character or event in the
story. Express each inference in complete sentences. You are not predicting here; you are drawing a
conclusion about a character or event.
4. Theme: In a complete sentence, articulate a theme from the chapter. Your theme statement needs to be a
complete thought and not just a single word; however, it should be general enough that it could apply to
other stories.
5. Question: Create a discussion question for the chapter.